Artistic specialization can drastically benefit your career as a concept artist (whether you’re a character designer, layout artist, environment painter or some other type of conceptual illustrator).

So, today, I’m going to challenge you to reconsider the way you’re pursuing your creative dreams as I debunk The Myth Of Versatility…

A Strong Concept Art Portfolio Is About TRUE Versatility.

True versatility is ALWAYS a good thing.

My own versatility has been a major plus for my career.

I went from working on Disney Fairies movies to expanding the world of Pixar’s Cars with Planes. The only things Fairies and Planes have in common are eyes, mouths and wings.

To work in animation and video games etc. you have to be versatile. But true artistic versatility just means that you have a few areas of specialization.

You acquire specialization in multiple areas with time and experience.

That’s true versatility.

What’s The Job?

My friend just applied for a job as a story artist at Disney. When I looked at his work I saw page after page of beautiful, appealing character designs, some logo designs, a couple of full illustrations…

…and zero storyboards.

The work in the portfolio was great but almost completely inappropriate for a story position.

A story portfolio needs storyboards.

If he had a portfolio full of great storyboards would it be appropriate to add a few pages of character designs to demonstrate his true versatility? Sure.

Versatility is appealing when it doesn’t muddy the message of the portfolio and confuse portfolio reviewers. In this case the message should have been: “I am a talented, consistent, experienced story artist! Oh, you liked my boards?! Well, I also do great character designs! Check out these last two pages that showcase my five best character designs!”

Specialization & Your Big Break:

The term “pipeline” refers to the ordered process of making animation for film & TV, mainstream comics, video games etc… The “pipeline” is also known as the “production schedule.”

You will find a pipeline anywhere there are a bunch of artists working together to create a much larger final product (like a movie).

The quality of that final product depends on whether the artists in it can consistently and efficiently deliver quality.

The people in charge of running the pipeline efficiently – producers, editors – are looking for artists who can fit within that pipeline and keep it running smoothly with as little drama and disruption as possible.

Specialization = Dependability = Hire-ability.

Your portfolio MUST showcase great drawing and painting, but it also has to communicate how you could fit into a production pipeline.

Your portfolio must convince the recruiter or editor that you could very well be the best choice for the available position.

A Note To Freelance Illustrators:

Freelance illustration isn’t what I think of as a “pipeline” job like animation, video games or even most mainstream comics.

Sure, you have an Art Director and you pass the work off to the layout department but the final piece of art is pretty much the work of one artist.

Here the specialization/ generalization boundaries are perhaps a bit blurry.

There are some illustrators out there who are working steadily and they have multiple styles and they do lots of different things like logo design, web design etc…

But if you’re sending your kids book to a company that does snowboard graphics you’re probably lacking in focus and the message of your portfolio is probably very unclear.

The snowboard company probably doesn’t care that you’re versatile enough to do a kids book……that is, until you build a real relationship with them and that’s something interesting that they eventually learn about you.

And, really, the illustration rock stars are known for a personal, signature style – which brings us back to specialization.

Maybe It’s Time To Focus?

…and maybe you’ll get better jobs by demonstrating one (or a few, if you insist) areas of specialization.

Check out my resource page for Concept Artist Jobs if you want to learn more about how to have a successful career as a concept artist (or, for that matter, any other kind of creative career).

How about YOUR Concept Art Portfolio? Does it showcase TRUE versatility or is it just confusing?

If your portfolio is confusing, what could you do to focus?

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Great post! It’s really too bad that art schools don’t encourage specialization until you’re at the graduate level. Could you elaborate on specialization a bit- for example, would specializing in drawing animals be too narrow (as long as your other skills weren’t weak) or are you talking mostly about style, medium, or something else? Also, how could you emphasize dependability in the resume or cover letter?

Great question, Meredith. In this post, I am encouraging specialization in the area of employment one happens to be pursuing at a specific time.

So, for example, if you’re a story artist applying for a job on ‘Spongebob,’ you would be wise to show 1.) Storyboards and 2.) Storyboards that demonstrate your ability to do comedic, character-based, TV animation. For ‘Spongebob’ specifically, you might want to have a bunch of boards showing characters making a bunch of crazy faces etc…

If you’re really good at drawing animals, then definitely showcase that specialty – but only if it’s relevant to the job for which you are applying. But if you’re applying for work on ‘Transformers’ it’s probably wise to limit the number of animal pages and add more pages showing that you’ve done big robot/ spaceship stuff.

And if all you have is animal stuff, then ‘Transformers’ probably isn’t the show for you…

Meredith: I think having consistent, consecutive jobs on your resume will emphasize dependability. If you’re working steadily, there’s a reason for that!

I think what Chris means about specializing is not “I draw animals” or “I draw dragons”, but “I’m a background artist–look at this wide variety of places, moods, and times I can capture in a background.” You should be able to do a wide variety of things within that job. (Note Chris’s point that he’s been asked to work on both fairy & planes films–he still does his same job, but the subjects & styles are very different.)

Someone who is a character designer, but can only draw dragons is going to be very limited in what kind of work they can get. And chances are, there is a character designer who has worked with the company before who can draw super heroes, bratty teens, robots AND dragons who will get the job, just because they’ve worked with him and he’s dependable.

Unless of course you have a site where you draw dog portraits on Etsy or something like that. If that’s your job, it makes sense to “specialize” that specifically if you get work consistently enough to keep you working all the time.

Maybe you could explain how sequential art is not the same as storyboarding, and no matter how many comic books, strips, or children’s titles you have under your belt, a storyboard portfolio should be specific (?) and expansive.

I’ll start with the obvious one: Storyboards have a Fixed Aspect Ratio where comics usually don’t.

Cartoon strips are often comprised of three square panels and when they break that pattern, they usually change the aspect ratio from panel-to-panel as comic books do. Usually, cartoon strips don’t employ a wide range of film techniques.

Storyboards have a pretty-much fixed aspect ratio and they employ a wide range of film techniques.

Sequential art like comics and cartoons CAN be included in a story portfolio but in the same, secondary way as I described above with the Character Designs example.

Story artists often work from a script that is supplied by a writer. So there’s a unique skill required for story art: the Visual Interpretation of a Screenplay.

Another difference is found in the collaborative nature of a production.

Most of the sequential art (comics and cartoons) I see in portfolios is of a very personal nature. Again, it’s not that personal work isn’t ever appropriate for a story portfolio, it’s just not the main course. …a couple pages of one’s personal cartoon strips or comic pages at the end of the portfolio would be a nice touch. I’ve even seen people submit an entire personal Graphic Novel along with a full story portfolio.

The frustrating part of it all is the circular conundrum of: “I need real storyboard experience for a real production to get a job to get the real real storyboard experience for a real production…”

First, I want to say thanks so much for putting this site and podcast together. I’m new to both, and already you guys have answered so many questions I had. So thank you both!

I do have a question about portfolio versatility, though. I understand what you mean by specialization when applying to a specific job, but how do you guys feel about portfolio versatility when applying to internships that aren’t very specific in their expectations? For example, one that simply says “strength in illustration and/or animation design”? How do you guys think that should be interpreted? Are life drawings and such still good things to include?

Do you know the company who is offering the internship? I’d research the company, see what they do, and send work that makes sense for the company. Both “animation” and “illustration” are really broad terms, but hopefully from their website you’ll get an idea of what kinds of illustration & animation they do.

I think you just can’t go wrong with showing specialization that is relevant to the job… Especially if it’s an internship where the studio is considering your performance in-house as an indicator of where you might fit.

If the internship is generally open to any kind of artist then don’t dilute the power of a portfolio that demonstrates strength in certain areas just for the sake of being general.

At max, I would advise showing specialty/ mastery in one, maybe two areas then add a few pages of each other thing you’re good at (but don’t mistake quantity for quality).

My general advice about specialty still applies. A clear, strong statement is better than a general, confusing one. You only have so much time and space in the portfolio to make an impact.

I’ve been facing a conundrum, myself: while I want to do illustration (and similar work) only, I also dabble in web design. That is not because I prefer it, but because there is much more work in that field and it pays well! If I want to continue pursuing work in illustration but need my web/graphic design portfolio available to share, should I completely separate them?

I want to make myself more eligible for ideal jobs, but I have to admit, my recent and current gigs have appreciated my flexibility and I don’t want to lose that eligibility by focusing my portfolio too much. For example, I have been the go-to illustrator in my time at a couple agencies, but my role has also required me to pick up things such as UI design, advertising, etc as I collaborate with the rest of the creative team.

For your site, it all comes down to the question: “What kind of work to you want to continue to get?”

If you consistently show web work, you’ll continue to get offers for web work.

If you want to move out of web work but still need that to pay the bills then I would recommend having one site with two sections – one for web design and one for illustration. Then, feature your illustration on the site.

If you want to always be an artist who does both, then be sure to clearly communicate that on your site and resume.

And, again, it all comes back to projects. The best, most liberating and effective way to start your transition is to create a project that features the kind of work you want to get paid for and market that online.

When considering a concept artist portfolio, I often hear that adding environments is a HUGE plus. However, my specialization lies in character art. Would it be better to have something heavy in environments for the sake of filling a hole that needs to be filled, or show my characters front-and-center, with a few enviros at the end?

Kevin, this is a SUPER-IMPORTANT question (which is why I wanted to answer it here).

Page by page, the portfolio builds a case for hiring the artist represented by the portfolio.

Sometimes a portfolio builds a STRONG case for hiring an artist and most of the time, portfolios build a weak case or don’t build a case at all. They often confuse the portfolio reviewer and/or showcase weak work.

Often, the portfolio is the ONLY thing that will speak on your behalf because the reviewer is flipping through it while chugging coffee, alone in a conference room at a studio in Burbank while the artist is back home in Winnipeg, Canada or where-the-heck-ever painting. That said, the MESSAGE of the portfolio must be strong and it must be crystal clear.

Do NOT put ANYTHING in your portfolio that doesn’t support the case in favor of hiring you. The message sent by EVERY SINGLE PAGE in the portfolio MUST be: “This artist is THE ABSOLUTE BEST PERSON for the job.”

If you are great at characters AND environments, then wonderful. That’s true versatility. Put both in your portfolio.

But if you’re GREAT at characters but your environments are “just okay” (and you only put them in there because somebody told you to “show more versatility”) then cut them out. They’re adding confusion to the case. The environments, in fact, are arguing AGAINST the case in favor of hiring you.

It’s as if you sent two people with opposite opinions to the conference room to speak with the reviewer on your behalf – and they are arguing.

One “voice” is saying: “This artist is the absolute best person for the job! Look at all these different characters! They’re all so appealing and imaginative! I bet he can draw ANYTHING! You gotta hire him now! If you don’t hire him someone else is going to grab him and you’ll be kicking yourself when he wins an Annie Award for character design!”

But the other voice is saying: “Hang on! Look at those mediocre environments. Who’s this kid trying fool? Look at the perspective there. He can’t draw. You hire him and he’s going to flake out. He’s not versatile at all. And there’s no WAY he’ll be able to handle the demands of the production pipeline.”

Versatility is great in theory. But theory is not reality. In reality, people get hired because they can deliver excellence and expertise and because they have good reputations.

Versatility (TRUE versatility) is a plus but it’s NOT point #1. It’s something you gain with experience. It’s gained with pencil and brush mileage and determination and not being afraid to face the hard truths about yourself and your work.

So, only show work that demonstrates excellence. Less is more.

Emphasize excellence WAY over versatility.

Am I making sense?

The myth of versatility leads people to just put everything in their portfolios. And maybe you ARE one of the ten people in the entire industry who literally CAN do everything and if so, why are you reading MY blog?

But if you’re like most of us, you have one or a few areas of strength where you can deliver excellence time and time again.

That’s the “voice” that will speak on your behalf. Don’t invite the arguing voice to your portfolio review.

My resume is really stilted towards design – apparel, toys, ads, etc. because that’s where I keep finding work. They like the idea of “a designer who can draw” or something :p

Yet I want more work in illustration – concepts, character design, one-offs for product, etc. However I can see one potential problem – that my work experience runs contrary to what I apply for! What’s a good apprach to upselling the design experience in an illustration world? That is, show em I’m an “illustrator who can design” :p

You drastically increase your chances of getting hired for the kind of work you want to do if you can put your stuff online in a place where the right people will see your work (like DA).

But the point above still applies. Emphasize the areas where you can deliver excellence. If your environments aren’t visibly as strong as your characters, then don’t put them in the portfolio. If you’re passionate about doing environments, then get good and THEN put them in the portfolio. If you’re not passionate about environments, there’s always character design.

Kevin-
I was in exactly the same shoes 3 years ago- just ask Chris, he was a great help for me. I worked as a packaging designer and did freelance illustration work. You’ve already got a broader body of work then I did.
MAKE your portfolio what YOU want it to be, give yourself assignments that you would want to get from a client. Nail it, then do it again. It also helps to disassemble the old portfolio with purpose to see where you really stand.

Wow, this is a great post with some great comments! I’ve been a luker for a while but I really should get involved more. Thanks Chris and Lora for this site and the podcasts!

This is a major issue I’m trying to deal with. I currently work in video games (mainly Flash animation) but I want to get into Illustration or Concept Art. The problem is, I can’t decided what exactly I want to do. Sometimes I think concept art for movies or video games, sometimes it’s Illustration, or make a graphic novel, or do matte paintings or 3D modeling, texturing, or backgrounds since I’m in the gaming industry already. Arrggh, I WISH I could just FOCUS, so I could work on that one thing and get great at it! I seem to like fantasy-ish women, creatures, and underwater best but I don’t know how that would fit in or if it would be marketable. But I guess if you focus and get great at something, that would eventually become marketable, is that right?

I wonder why it’s so difficult for some people to find a focus and easy for others? I would give my left leg to find a focus and stick with it!

Soon I’ll be going to IMC for the first time and I hope that may help me narrow it down.

Any other suggestions? Or is it just something you have to figure out over the years?

Ok, I just had an epiphany after writing that last comment and pondering on the walk home. I think I will focus on fantasy illustration. It’s what I enjoy the most and I can do it on the side of my full-time job for now… one day, maybe Illustration full-time. Who says you can’t switch focus later if you want, you don’t have to do it ALL right now.

And, to be clear, it doesn’t mean you CAN’T do the other stuff. Just don’t put it in the portfolio unless it can help to “build your case” for that specific job – as I was just explaining to Kevin (comments above).

Thanks so much for the insight. I think as artists we don’t want to pigeon hole ourselves into one specialty. However, sometimes it is this specialty that gives us the unique quality that fits the right job (or the job fits our specialty ). Specialty can also give us artists the ability to sharpen our skills and deepen our experience in that one specialty (excellence!). This doesn’t mean we can’t dabble in other styles, just that versatility needs to have a a solid core. I like what Chris said, (paraphrasing) “If you are passionate about a style, then get good at it…” (I’m talking to myself here…) Where your passion lies, your style lies!

Hey Chris, great thoughts! After reading this, I was reminded what you mentioned on Paper Wings this week- when you were breaking into the animation industry, you would produce your art with Art-Of-Movie books opened on either side of you. This is not only a fast method of gauging quality, but also a great way to inspire you to raise your work to the level it needs to be. I often do this with my favorite pieces of animation – studying frame by frame really unlocks some magic!

On the subject of visual development, I’ve been recently developing some characters and as I gathered reference from real-life sources, I also gathered pictures of characters I felt carried the qualities I was looking for on this specific project. I think drawing them as part of my exploration process really raised my bar on quality – that, an thinking about who the characters really are on the inside.

That was a really good post!
I think it would have been helpful in my earlier days!
It has taken me a while to figure out what I actually wanted to specialize in and want to do. I’ve jumped around quite abit (which you can probably tell from seeing my work) from fantasy art, kids books, I even did some commercial illustration which sucked the life out of me.
Even when I met you at CTN, I was still abit unsure.

Somehow In the end, I found I liked animating and this lead me to storyboarding! So now I’m doing storyboards for the animated Spiderman show! (Such an odd turn of events!)

Wow! This is such an encouraging and useful post. I love everybody’s comments and the interaction. It definitely helps to broaden my horizons. I’m also an I-dabble-on-a-little-bit-everything-can’t-seem-to-focus person. I’m curious about ALL and I want to try them all before I commit to anything, however I am aware that this has been detrimental to my progress in some areas, making my portfolio okay overall but not strong in one specific point. Right now I’m on a work-hiatus so I don’t have to think about tailoring my portfolio to any given job but I will keep all this in mind when the time comes for that.
I do love character design and environment design. I tried my hand at animation but I don’t have the patience for it. Within the realm of character design and environment design there are many different areas where I can go to… so right now that I don’t have to think of jobs I can perhaps try my hand at it and see what fits me best, or what I’m truly passionate about. Also, to get my fundamentals and basics in like perspective and proportions, hihihi, those two are always tough.
Thanks again for all the good advice!!! And for being there to reply to us!

This entry has been extremely helpful. Thank you so much for your insight and advice. I have a quick question though regarding making my portfolio as geared to the company as possible. When an organization asks for their artist to be able to create “model packets”, what do they mean? Could you give me an example? Not just in text, but maybe a visual example? I might know what they mean, but just use different terminology. I think it has to do with aiding the 3D modelers, but to actually SEE an example would be very helpful. I have seen this in various postings and I just want to be sure so that I can specialize my portfolio for each job I apply for. Thank you so much.

I´ve been confused about my specialization for a few years (yes…..YEARS !! ) trying to make everything. At the beginning I wanted to embrace everything (graphic design, illustration, comics, animation…) and sadly, I must say that in my art school anybody help me (and the other alumns) to find our path.
Finally, I decided to look back, at my early days as a child and tought about what I usually drew. I find that I usually made characters and creatures for my own stories. Surprisingly, I always finished my character designs, but when I had to start to make the product itself (whatever it was: comics, book illustrations etc.) soon I started to feel bored and I abandoned it to make other stories and other character designs……
I found that my path maybe was concept art…….I started to look how to make characters, enviroments, props, creatures, vehicles…… to make sure what kind of this stuff was really for me. Maybe I experimented with all of this to ensure me about something: My best artwork is about characters and creatures. I enjoy do this stuff. I also like to make enviroments but I must say that I´m not as good with this.
So…….Finally I have my path, I have something to work on that I never felt too much tired or bored to leave it…..and well, maybe not for now, but I think I could be a good character artist. Maybe in the future, or in my “out-of-stress” time I would learn to make better enviroments, but now I know that my first target is to become a character concept artist.
I recommend to look back to our childhood to find that “thing” which makes us happy only for the fact to see it finished.

I’m completely lost. I made it halfway through art school before dropping out for monetary reasons. I know I want to do character and prop design, background design, and storyboarding. I have work leftover from school but I don’t think anything I’ve done is good enough for a portfolio. How do you know if you’re good or not? How do you know if you should even bother sending a portfolio in? I don’t expect employers to send feedback, so I don’t know how to gauge what I’m doing as correct or not.

I’m curious about this too, I’m in a similar situation. I’ll be leaving school relatively soon, and I’m not sure how to get feedback after that, since I haven’t gotten that first real job yet. I went through a really long creative dry spell when I took a break from school, it felt like my work was getting stagnant but I didn’t have anyone to ask about it. I’ve transferred schools a lot, so I don’t really have any art buddies, and as far as I’ve seen, DA isn’t too helpful. How do artists/designers find advice or mentors without meeting people in the workplace?

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Great read as usual. This pretty much sums up my time in school up to a point not far in the past. I tried out so many things from nature illustration, children’s books to concept art and fantasy, that I lost focus on what I wanted to do.
I am still not entirely focussed on one area but Character/ creature design in either comic/disney stile or for games and high quality illustration is what I am best at.

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Ah Yes! Great post.
I’m a student so I have not yet come around to completing a ‘full portfolio’, but when I do I already know its going to be a ‘mishmash’ of styles, medium, and practices, to be quite honest. I love art school, but my problem was there is so much to take in… printing, digital, fabrication… that I haven’t yet found my speciality, or my niche. But, its a problem I’m trying to work through by incorporating my ‘specialist’ personal projects into my routine, and by taking the time to really focus on the parts of animation that I’m most interested in (mostly pre-production things like storyboards, and concepts).
Anyone have tips on how to cut out what’s not necessary?

Again, great post. And I love that its concise enough to read and reply to over breakfast!